Saivlin's page

The general rule is that archetypes that modify the same class features can't be used together.

If you're going to allow that, then using Extempressario for the changes to spells (Force of Personality, Spells and Cantrips), Spell Reserves (replacing Spell Recall), and Improved Spell Reserves (replacing Improved Spell Recall) while using Cabalist for Bloodline Power (replacing Knowledge Pool) and Bloodline Spells (replacing Greater Spell Access) seems like it would work.

By using the Bard casting progression, the magus would have one extra spell per day of each level. A well chosen bloodline can provide a great selection of spells, if the campaign reaches a high enough level for Bloodline Spells to come online. With the general reliance of magus on a small selection of lower level spells (Frostbite, Shocking Grasp, Frigid Touch) to power their terrific burst damage, either archetype on its own will allow the magus to do an extra burst. Additionally, Extempressario allows spell recall to include metamagic, which makes it strictly better than the vanilla magus' Spell Recall and Improved Spell Recall. The loss for the magus is the reduced versatility of spells known. The magus loses knowledge pool and greater spell access, and becomes limited to a relatively small selection of spells known.

Generally, this means that you can probably expect more Intensified Shocking Grasps in combat, and less versatility out of combat. The reduction of non-combat versatility is made more extreme by switching the spell casting stat from Int to Cha. This will mean the magus gets far fewer skill points.

tl;dr - The magus will be stronger in combat, but have less non-combat utility.

My group is just now heading to Foxglove Manor. Our group has been together for slightly over twelve years, though the only continuous members have been the current DM and myself. He has served as DM for ~60% of our campaigns, and I've done the other 40%. We've used a ton of different systems but 3/3.5/Pathfinder has been our favorite. We do a lot of RP, and get really into our characters. We tend to ensure that our characters are very well prepared (flasks of oil, bags of salt, always carry alchemical silver and cold iron, etc), proceed very cautiously, and use stealth and tactics to crush our foes.

The characters are:
Arjun - LN Tiefling Magus (kensai - katana). A slave from Cheliax who escaped to Jalmeray. There he was taken in by a kindly monk of Irori, who raised him in a monastery of Irori. After the monk's death, the next master of the monastery did not want an infernal being polluting the students, and exiled him. He then went to Absalom where he met Tatiana (see below), and together they pursued a criminal across the Inner Sea. They met up with Bumbles (see below) in Promise, and tracked the criminal to Sandpoint, where they met Evais and Tess during the ceremony. Is an active abolitionist who wants to end the reign of House Thrune, and is seeking a way to dethrone Asmodeus. This is my character. Devastating in combat (keen katana + Shocking Grasp), but socially can only intimidate people.

Bumbles - N Custom race (construct) Arcanist. Bumbles has no memory before awakening in an empty, decrepit laboratory in Promise. While wandering around, Bumbles met Arjun and Tatiana, who requested the skilled arcanist accompany them. Bumbles is 1' 6" tall, made of soft fabric, and resembles a bear. How Bumbles works and came to be is one of the party's side quests. My wife's character. Focused on conjuration/summoning, and is a walking library.

Tatiana - CG Human Slayer (bounty hunter). Her parents were Red Mantis Assassins in Absalom, but disappeared when she was young. Not understanding the true nature of her parent's activities and raised on the streets of Absalom, she believed that her parents were masked heroes protecting the people of the city. She wears an elaborate costume while hunting criminals, who are then turned over to the authorities, but also frequently investigated corruption within the government. Met Arjun at the temple of Irori while hunting a bounty, and asked for his aid. Notable for having incredibly low Int. Played by a good friend. Flanking attacks and dirty tricks, plus good non-lethal takedown abilities for getting prisoners to question.

Evais - CN Half-Elf Rogue. Former pirate from Tien, who plied the waters from Jalmeray to Absalom. She was shipwrecked while heading to Riddleport, where she hoped to build her own pirate crew. Tess rescued her, and brought her ashore near Magnimar. They quickly fell in love, and were traveling by land from Magnimar to Riddleport, when a quick stop in Sandpoint went wrong. Played by my sister-in-law. Worthless in combat, but utterly terrific in social encounters.

Tess - NG Mermaid Druid. Rescued Evais from drowning, and fell in love. She's the DM's self-insert character, who typically avoids combat and focuses on healing the party and crafting our magic items. The DM is my brother-in-law.

Odd notes on the actual campaign thus far:
0. All characters are currently level 7. The DM has needed to scale up most encounters, because the three combat oriented characters have been utterly devastating. Very few combats have gone longer than one round, and only the tentamort (which was scaled to CR 12) was a real threat.

1. We captured Gresgurt and a very high Intimidate check by Arjun cowed him into becoming our minion. After killing all of the Goblin leaders in/around Thistletop, we made him into our puppet king.

2. We're currently building a fortress on top of Thistletop. Evais convinced Gresgurt that it will protect his tribe, and thus the Goblins are aiding in its construction. Evais convinced Sandpoint to help fund it to contain the goblins, with us as its wardens. Evais also negotiated a treaty between the two for peace and trade. We're using Shalelu to keep an eye on the Goblins while we're dealing with the Skinsaw murders. Also, we've organized joint patrols in which a human teams up with a goblin to put down the undead after the farm incident.

3. I managed to slam and pin Malfeshnekor (thanks to a nice combination of buffs and debuffs), and successfully intimidate him into ceasing hostilities. With a contract bound in blood, I agreed to free him in exchange for his assistance in my future plans of dethroning both House Thrune and Asmodeus. After dealing with Foxglove manor, we'll acquire a scroll of Mage's Disjunction and free him upon our return to Thistletop.

4. A chief tactic that we use is to sneak up to ~60ft from the enemy, have Bumbles cast Invisibility, then have Arjun throw an invisible Bumbles to the other side of the room. Bumbles then hides and summons the strongest creature he can, and then Arjun and Tatiana charge the enemies, who are now facing the opposite direction. This didn't work against Nulia (GM gave her a constant effect Truesight) and nearly got Bumbles destroyed (and being a construct, no resurrections allowed).